It Happened Like This
by monicawoe
Summary: In Cold Oak, Dean held his brother in his arms, and he whispered, "Please. I wish - "   and in the dark, something heard him - something ancient, powerful beyond measure, and cruel


In Cold Oak, Dean held his dying brother in his arms. He screamed, he cried, and he whispered, "Please. I wish - "

_(and in the dark, something heard him - something ancient, powerful beyond measure, and cruel)_

"I wish I'd never come to get Sammy at Stanford. I wish I'd just let him live his life."

_(something heard Dean, and it gave him his wish)_

* * *

><p>Dean opened his eyes and found his father staring down at him.<p>

"Come on Dean, it's now or never. We're finally gonna get the son of a bitch."

"Dad?" Dean said, and he didn't understand. He didn't understand until they were standing at Bobby's, and Bobby was opening a map in front of them.

"Wyoming." Bobby said, pointing at the center of the map.

They were headed to a Devil's Gate - inside of an enormous Devil's Trap made of railroad tracks - built by none other than Samuel Colt.

"All the omens are here," Bobby drew his finger in a circle around the part of the map he'd marked, "but there ain't any inside. This trap is keeping all the demons out."

"Yellow-eyes wants whatever's inside, only - he can't get to it." John said, smirking.

Bobby nodded, "I still think you're crazy going after him."

"We have the Colt." John said.

"Yeah you do, but you don't know that it'll kill the thing." Bobby scoffed, "Plus - rumor is the Tall Man's out there."

"Maybe he's tracking the omens too."

Bobby shook his head, "You don't want to tangle with him John - from what I've heard, nobody's ever come back from a meeting with him. Don't matter if you're a hunter, or something he hunts - nobody comes back."

Dean stared at the map and tried to get this thoughts in order. "What day is it?"

John stared at him, and said, "Tuesday. Dean, are you feeling okay?"

"I'm fine. I'm just - I didn't sleep too well last night. I meant what date is it?"

"April 28th, son." Bobby said, looking concerned. "You sure you're all right?"

Dean nodded and tried to calm the pounding in his heart. Sam died on April 29th. "Dad...where's Sam?"

"Sam?" John said, and now he looked angry, "What - you think your brother would want to be here for this all of a sudden? After shutting us out all this time?"

"What - what are you talking about?" Dean said, confused.

"Dean, what the hell's going on with you?" John asked again.

"Sorry, you two, but - if we're gonna do this, we gotta get goin'. Now." Bobby said, and folded up the map.

* * *

><p>They drove to Wyoming - to an old cemetery next to a set of railroad tracks. The outermost rail was bent up off the ground.<p>

"Devil's trap's broken." Bobby said.

"Then he's here." John added, getting out of the car, and tucking the Colt in his back pocket.

They walked through the cemetery until they saw an unnatural glow off in the distance. They ran towards it and heard screaming.

Dean stopped when he saw a mausoleum and two figures in front of it. Two men - one was standing, one was on his knees, screaming. Dean ran closer, ahead of John and Bobby. His legs nearly gave out when he got close enough to see who he was looking at. "Sam." he said, and it came out more of a gasp, than a word. Sam looked different - larger somehow. His posture was completely off - his shoulders weren't hunched, he wasn't trying to make himself smaller than he was. He didn't look like Sam, but he was.

Sam's hand was stretched out - palm held towards the man screaming in front of him. As he screamed, he lit up with a golden light. It matched the light in his eyes - and Sam's.

Sam lifted his chin, and stretched his fingers out wider. The man's screaming got louder and louder, and then cut off. He fell face forward into the dirt.

Sam turned and looked at Dean, his eyes burning a bright, angry yellow.

"What the hell was that?" Bobby asked from behind Dean.

John walked up next to them, Colt at the ready and said, "That's the yellow-eyed bastard who killed my wife." He held the gun up and aimed it at Sam.

"No!" Dean yelled, and pushed John's arm up as he fired. The bullet shot up into the night sky.

"Dean! What the hell is wrong with you!" John screamed.

"Dad. It's Sam. It's Sam!"

John stared at Dean and turned to Sam, shaking his head.

Sam tilted his head, watching them. The Colt flew from John's grip and landed in Sam's hand.

Dean ran to Sam.

John and Bobby watched him go, too confused, and too heartbroken to move.

"Sam." Dean said, "Sam what happened?"

Sam looked at Dean, and smiled sadly, "I killed him, Dean. I had to." Sam handed Dean the Colt and said, "Now it's your turn."

Dean stared at the gun in his hand and back up at his brother.

Sam grabbed Dean's hand and brought the Colt up to his own temple. "Do it. Please."

Dean stared at him, pulled the Colt back down and shook his eyes, saying, "Sammy, no."

"I'd do it myself, but it wouldn't work. No weapon can kill me," Sam laughed bitterly, "Not unless you're the one holding it."

"Why would I kill you? You're my brother, I - "

Sam nodded, "You don't know. Let me show you." He put his hand on Dean's temple.

Dean's mind was filled with years of memories, all of them Sam's. Sam spoke to him, narrating every image, like some kind of twisted voice-over.

_"It happened like this._

_I went to Stanford. Dad said I was a coward. You didn't want me to go, but I had to. I had to Dean._

_I went to Stanford, and I had an awesome roommate, named Brady. He introduced me to a beautiful girl named Jess. She was sweet, and she was funny and I was in love with her._

_I was going to marry her._

_I came home one night, laid on the bed, looked up at the ceiling and saw her pinned to it. She burned alive, right above me, and I couldn't do a damn thing to stop it. She died just like mom died. I should have died that night too, but I didn't, because Brady saved me._

_Brady didn't save me because he was an awesome roommate. He saved me, because that was his job. He was a demon, and he'd been sent to look over me - to set me on the right path. Yellow-eyes - Azazel - sent him to look over me, Dean._

_Do you want to know why?_

_Thing is, Brady wasn't a big fan of his boss. He told me why Azazel was so interested in me. Mom died because of me. She died because Azazel wanted me to lead his army. Mom found him that night - feeding me his blood. Just a few drops, but it was enough. It gave me power, made me immune to some things._

_It gave me power, but not enough. I wanted to kill Azazel, and he's as strong as they come. He's ruled Hell since Lucifer left. Nobody challenged him, because nobody could._

_Brady told me I could get strong enough to kill Azazel. I told him I'd do anything. **Anything.**_

_Azazel killed Jess, Dean. I had to._

_Brady showed me how to get strong. Really strong. I spent years getting ready to take down Azazel. I wasn't the only one he thought would make a good general. There were others. I found them all, and I took every drop of Azazel's blood back from them. All of their power...and it still wasn't enough._

_There were demons loyal to Azazel that knew what I was doing. Some of them tracked me down. That's when Brady showed me what else I could do to get stronger."_

_Dean saw a flicker of images - demons attacking Sam; Sam pinning them with a thought; Sam slitting their throats and drinking down their blood like water._

_"I got **so** much stronger._

_I got so strong, even Brady couldn't hide his thoughts from me anymore. He hadn't told me everything. He'd left out a whole lot of details - important details. It didn't matter, really. I was strong enough to kill Azazel. But I couldn't forgive Brady either."_

_The last image Dean saw was Sam with his mouth locked on Brady's throat. Sam pulled back from his neck and let him fall to the floor. Brady's black eyes were still wide open, and he twitched weakly. Sam's mouth was covered in blood, and his eyes were a brilliant yellow. He raised his hand, held it over Brady's body, and a ring of fire formed around him. Sam closed his hand into a fist and the demon itself became nothing but burning embers._

Sam looked at Dean, and moved the Colt back up to his temple. "Please, Dean. I'm a monster."

Dean shook his head, "No, Sam. We'll figure this out."

Sam laughed bitterly, "Figure it out. No! This isn't something we can figure out." Sam's eyes glowed painfully bright, and he hissed, "I'm not human. I'm a monster, and if you don't kill me - right here, right now - then someday soon, I'm going to be the _Devil_."

"No, Sam - " Dean said, "That's not true. Whatever they told you, they're _demons_. They lie. It's what they do."

Sam shook his head, "Not to me. They _can't _lie to me."

"You're not evil." Dean said.

"Sam?" John said, his eyes wide, "What did you do to yourself?"

Sam looked at his father and said, "What I had to. I killed him, dad. It's over."

Bobby walked closer to Dean and looked into Sam's eyes, shaking his head. "Is this what you've been doing this whole time?" He turned from Dean to John and back to Sam, "Your father and your brother, they were out of their heads with panic trying to find you, and you - you go and do _this_?"

"Yes!" Sam yelled, "And I'd do it again."

"Son, you made yourself into one of them?" John asked, with a shaky voice.

"No." Sam said, and he let his head hang, "I'm much, much worse." He turned back to Dean and said, "Please, Dean. You know what you have to do."

Dean nodded, and raised the Colt. Then he brought the butt of it crashing onto Sam's head.

* * *

><p>When Sam woke up, he was in a room he'd never seen before. He stared up at the ceiling and saw a slowly turning fan spinning above a grate shaped like a devil's trap. He looked around the room until he saw a door with a small panel. The panel slid open, and Dean 's eyes looked back at him.<p> 


End file.
